Universal suffrage and the right to vote birth control and equal pay

Universal suffrage

"While women represent 50% of the worlds population, they perform nearly two thirds of all working hours, recieve only one tenth of the world's income and own less than one percent of the world's property" This was one of many issues that women had to overcome to achieve equality. Another major one being given the right to vote. New Zealand became the first country to allow women the vote and this was in 1900 and after 75 years 128 other countries had done the same. Even though women were given the right to vote they still weren't treated the same as men.

Birth Control and equal pay

Equal pay was a major issue. After the second world war there was a rise in female workers in the jobs normally done by men. After the war was over many women didn't return to their old jobs but still were making less money than men. most women felt that this wouldn't change until more women entered into politics. The equal pay act of 1963 was a Bill signed by John F. Kennedy and passed by congress as part of his New Frontier program. It was aimed at stopping wage disparity based on sex and also stopping sex discrimination. Another big change was the introduction of the birth control pill. Now that women had access to this they had more control of if and when they wanted to become mothers. This meant they could focus more on their careers.

Summary

in 1900 only one country allowed women to vote and that was New Zealand. it took 75 years until 129 countries allowed their women to vote. However even though this had been accomplished there was still a way to go for women to be equal in many other ways. Equal pay was a major issue after women were given the right to voteeven as late as the1980's women working full time jobs were still being paid 64% of what men were being paid. One of the main issues was the jobs that women filled in the workforce (pink collar syndrome). One thing that made a difference was the introduction of the birth control pill. By the late 1960's almost all women had access to it now women had control over their reproductive role and could focus more on their job because they could decide if and when they wanted to become mothers